Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal
May 3, 2018 Volume 156, Number 2 - $1.00
Track Team Wins
Vote for Statue
Fundraising Lunch
Forreston-Polo wins the Art Carlson Track Classic out of 21 teams competing. B1
Vote for the Black Hawk Statue as one of the top scenic sites. A8
A luncheon to raise funds to repair the Black Hawk Statue is planned for May 20. A6
Grocery delivery company now serves Forreston By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com While a dedicated grocery store does not yet exist within the village, Forreston citizens can how have groceries delivered to their doorsteps. Instacart, a rapidly-growing grocery delivery service with roots in San Francisco, California, has made its way to Freeport, officially launching with CVS and Cub Foods on Thursday, April 26. Keith Janicke, an area manager for Instacart who lives in Chicago but grew up in Forreston, said communities within 15 miles of Freeport are all eligible for grocery delivery, making German Valley, Forreston, and Baileyville the only communities in Ogle County thus far eligible for the service. “I’m extremely excited and surprised that we launched as soon as we did,” said Janicke. “I think it’s a tremendous service, and will help out people who don’t have a car, can’t get to Freeport, or even the elderly who can’t get out much.” Customers browse products and make grocery orders online at www.instacart.com, or by using the Instacart smart phone application, and then personal shoppers fill the order
at participating stores, before finally delivering them. The service boasts grocery deliveries can come in as little as an hour, and does come with a $5.99 delivery fee. “We’ve had a very good response to the service,” said Bob Miller, Freeport Cub Foods store director. “It’s something we’ve been working on for about a year, and now it’s here.” Participating grocers opt into the service, and Supervalu, a Minnesota-based parent organization that owns the Cub Foods brand, wanted it in all of their markets, according to Janicke. Janicke said he was not certain at this moment whether that meant the Supervalu in Oregon might begin offering the service. Janicke was so excited about the launch, however, that he filled and delivered the very first order to Forreston, made by his sister, Kathy. “It’s a relatively small launch, but the community is so near and dear to my heart, I had to be there,” said Janicke. As part of the launch, those ordering for the first time can get $20 off of an order $35 or more by using the code “heyfreeport” during checkout. The delivery fee is also waived for the first order.
Wendy, a personal shopper through Instacart, puts together an order for a customer at the Freeport Cub Foods. Instacart has teamed up with Cub Foods to deliver grocery orders within Freeport, and to outside residents within 15 miles, including Forreston, German Valley, and Baileyville. Photo supplied.
Ogle County is home to largest tree in Illinois By Andy Colbert acolbert@oglecounty news.com When the Byron Forest Preserve acquired a 160 acre plot of land, little did they know of a hidden treasure soon to be discovered. From what was part of what was a 1,420 acre cattle and ranching operation sold by parcels, the forest preserve managed to snag a portion called Bald Hill. Located in a hard-to-find locale between Leaf River and Mt. Morris, Bald Hill appealed to the forest preserve because of the topographical features, native prairie plants, two endangered raptor species, and a rare woolly milkweed. At 925 feet above sea level, it is also the second-highest point in Ogle county with a dramatic sloping of land and some of the finest views found anywhere around. It has gravel and sand deposits from the last ice age. Even with its $652,000 price tag, of which $434,000 was paid for with a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation, it was a prized addition to other properties managed by the forest preserve. What really set this piece of land apart from all others, though, was the accidental discovery of what turned out to be the largest tree in Illinois. With the rolling topography, the
tree isn’t noticeable until a person crosses over to a ravine and looks down upon the behemoth of an eastern Cottonwood. “When we first saw it, there was all kinds of brush around it,” forest preserve Executive Director Todd Tucker said. “We cleared the brush and said ‘Oh my gosh, this is a big tree.’ Then I started measuring it with my arms outstretched and it took six lengths to get all the way around it. It had to be close to 30 feet in diameter.” Make that exactly 28.5 feet. It is also 122 feet tall, but sitting at the base of the ravine at 750 feet of elevation doesn’t even reach the highest point of Bald Hill. That’s why it can’t be fully seen without getting up close. It is also a major factor in the long life the tree has sustained, estimated at 200 years. “The hills protect it from lightning and at the low elevation, it gets plenty of water,” Tucker said. Since news of the cottonwood dethroning a bald cypress in southern Illinois as the Big Tree Champion, Tucker has been busy fielding media interviews. “The Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times have contacted us, along with the Rockford TV stations,” he said, as the BFP staff prepared for an open house on April 28, which drew 800 people from all over northern Illinois. “NPR did a piece on it and it went to the national feed. I think this will do a lot for tourism,”
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Tucker said. In an area already rich in protected lands, it will also give locals and visitors alike one more piece of nature to enjoy. “Bald Hill will be open to the public year round,” said BFP Education Superintendent Mark Herman. “We will put trails in. From the parking lot to the tree it is almost a half mile. There are also other sites on the property to hike to.” According the plat maps, Bald Hill has had many owners since 1838. Ford Ferguson, a commodities broker from Chicago with a passion for cattle ranching, was the most recent owner. Last year, a decision was made by his descendants to sell Bald Hill and all the other parcels surrounding it, most commonly referred to as the Leaf River Ranch. At first, a private individual, Peter McDaid, outbid the BFP for Bald Hill. Told by Tucker that the BFP was interested in it, McDaid became willing to sell it to the Natural Land Institute, who then sold it to the forest preserve. It was all part of a pre-arranged plan and the marriage of privatepublic partnership working together for the public interest. Bob Piros, of Chana, a longtime advocate for prairie lands and retired Stillman Valley educator, was one of many people checking out Bald Hill as
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B10 Entertainment, A6 Marriage Licenses, A4
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Russell Brunner, left, Byron Forest Preserve Superintendent of Land Management, and Todd Tucker, executive director, stand next to the largest tree in Illinois at the Bald Hill Prairie Preserve which opened April 28. The eastern cottonwood, estimated to be 200 years old, is 122 feet tall and 28.5 feet in circumference. Photo by Vinde Wells
Public Voice, B4 Property Transfers, B6 School Menu, A3 Sheriff’s Arrests, B5
Social News, A4 Sports, B1-B3 State’s Attorney, B6
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
Deaths, B5 Ryan W. Benson